The arrival of another child and the desire for photos without bringing a large DSLR and flash everywhere you find a newborn during the first week of her life meant that a point and shoot was needed in my camera bag. I’ve been watching a couple of models for a long time and finally picked the Canon G11 over the Lumix LX3, largely because I really liked how the G11 has dedicated dials and stuff for the ISO, aperture and shutter speed instead of having to use menus, and because when I finally went to hold the G11 in my own hands, I really liked the retro feels of the controls. The G11 has been doing pretty well this week, especially given that it’s a small camera that fits in a pocket. It’s not really fair to compare its image quality to the D700 or D300, but for the convenience it brings to the job it’s great.
Today I took an exploratory trip outside of Vegas to Red Rock Canyon, which turned out to be gorgeous. I’d left the big camera bag at home because I rarely shoot landscapes at mid-day. Boy did I regret that decision. The weather had started off as bright sunshine, but by the time I arrived at the canyon, snow was moving in over the mountains, and flurries here and there swept across the valley. It was remarkable, and how I wished I’d had my full kit with me. But I had the G11 and did the above three shot hand held panorama. Moving to manual mode was quick and the controls were easy to use. I later opened the three RAW files in Lightroom and adjusted virtual copies for highlights and shadows. I made two panoramas in Photoshop, then stacked them as layers, then used a layer mask to reveal the darkened sky to matched what I saw there. WOuld I have a better image with the D700 and proper lens on a tripod? Sure, but the only phone I always have with me is my iPhone, and the G11 did a heck of a lot better than what would’ve done.
